All about Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business

by Mel Brooks

You can struggle when things are bad if you have a sense of humor. Laughter is a protest scream against death, against the long goodbye. It’s a defense against unhappiness and depression.

Failure is vital. It is an incredibly important quotient in the equation of a career. After you wipe away your tears, it’s not a bad experience and under the right circumstances it will make you better, both as a person and as an artist.

Fort Sill is in the southwest corner of Oklahoma. It’s cold, it’s flat, and it’s windy. If you ever have a chance, don’t go there. If you’re not in the field artillery, I don’t know why you would go there.

Breakfast in the mess hall was an experience. First of all, you got on line. Everything in the Army is first you get on line.

One morning at breakfast as I went through the chow line they put something strange on my plate. I brought it back to my table and said to one of the GIs, “What is this?” He said, “It’s called shit on a shingle!” “Shit on a shingle?” I said. “Yeah, but actually it’s chipped beef and cream gravy on toast.” I watched the other guys at my table, they were eating it and they didn’t seem upset. So I tried it. It was weird; I couldn’t make sense out of the taste. But I was eighteen and always crazy hungry. So I ate it. It wasn’t good; it wasn’t bad. It was food and it was filling. Later on, I kind of got used to it and came to like it. It was just good old Army chow. But I’ll never forget the first time I stared down at the confused mess on my plate and heard the expression “shit on a shingle.”

The Army didn’t rob me of my youth; but actually, come to think of it, they really gave me quite an education. If you don’t get killed in the Army you can learn a lot. You learn how to stand on your own two feet.

When you parody something, you move the truth sideways. With Blazing Saddles, we moved the truth out onto the street.

Other directors may have broken the fourth wall, but I think in Blazing Saddles I shattered it.

Like I’ve said before, as far as movie executives are concerned, always agree with them, but never do a thing they say.

Studios have a way of promising the world and giving you zero.

I truly believe that when you’re with the right person, they love you not in spite of your flaws, but because of them.

Even though it seems foolish and silly and crazy, comedy has the most to say about the human condition. Because if you can laugh, you can get by. You can survive when things are bad if you have a sense of humor.